[Steve Myers] Now, you may have heard the story about the passengers that were on this small, little commuter plane. They were on the tarmac. They were waiting, ready to go, getting a little impatient. The pilots hadn't shown up. As they're getting more and more impatient, here come these two men down the aisle. One of them has dark glasses on and is being led by a seeing-eye dog. The other one, also dressed in a pilot's uniform, has a cane, and he's tapping back and forth on the aisle as they head down toward the cockpit.

The passengers started talking to each other, kind of nervous about this little thing and wondering if it's some kind of a practical joke or something. Well, they walk into the cockpit, they shut the door, the engines fire up, and all the passengers are getting a little bit nervous. They're wondering, "What in the world is going on?" Before they know it, the plane is moving down the runway, and they just cannot believe this. They're looking out the window as the plane is picking up speed and it's getting faster, and it's faster and faster.

They're looking out and they see there's a gigantic pond as they're approaching the very end of the runway. Just as they're getting to hit that water, they just scream in this blasting, just blasting scream. The plane lifts off right at the last moment, and everything is calm and peaceful. They just, "Ah." They're so at ease then, they kind of look around a little sheepishly that they got that nervous. They feel very secure in this flight now that everything is fine and they're in good hands. Up front, the co-pilot turns to the pilot and he says, "Bob, you know, one of these days they're going to scream too late and we're all going to die." [audience laughs]
 
Now, fortunately, that's not the way that God sees. God has different kinds of eyes than those two pilots, and we're sure glad of that. He has a different perspective. He has insight, He has oversight, and He has amazing vision. But I wonder if we've really thought about the way that God sees things. I thought it might be helpful to take a little bit of time this afternoon to think about the way that God sees. I thought we could do that by two stories, two stories that involve H's. Their main characters begin with the letter H.

The first one, it's not the story of Abraham or Sarai. It's the story of Hagar. Of course, she's involved with the others as well. But in Genesis chapter 16, the first H story we're going to look at is the story of Hagar, and it is intricately involved in the way that God sees. So if you turn over to Genesis chapter 16 and verse 1, the backstory to this, of course, is that God had promised Abraham an innumerable multitude of offspring. But how is he going to have them? He's old, his wife is old, so Abram isn't quite sure how this is going to play out.

Instead of trusting God, he and… I guess Sarah, she comes up with a plan. "Well, if I can't have them, maybe my handmaiden can have them." So as you begin chapter 16 in Genesis, that's where the story begins, "Well, take Hagar and perhaps that's the way we'll have offspring." So sure enough, she conceives, and what happens? Sarai's perspective changes completely. Suddenly she feels bad that she came up with this idea.

Verse 4, after she's conceived, Sarai sees that she's pregnant. Then, what happens to her perspective? It says, "Her mistress became despised in her eyes." So now she hates Hagar. Verse 5, “Sarai said to Abraham, ‘My wrong be upon you. I gave my maid to your embrace. When she saw she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.’" So Abraham says, "Okay, well," verse 6, "indeed your maid is in your hand. Do to her as you please."

So what do you think Sarai did? It says in verse 6, "She dealt harshly with her." Now, what would your reaction be in being dealt harshly with? Well, maybe it would be like Hagar. Hagar runs. End of verse 6 it says, "She fled from her presence." She fled. Now, verse 7, "The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to shore and he said..." So now she gets into a discussion at a well with the Angel of the Lord. This is the one who would become Jesus Christ.

He says to Hagar, "Where have you come from, and where are you going?" Well, He probably already knew the answer to that, but wanted to see what she was going to say. So what does Hagar say? She says, "I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarai." He probably knew that was going to happen. In fact, there's an interesting connection between the name "Hagar" and what she did. Do you know what "Hagar" means? It means, to take flight. It means to run, to flee, and that's exactly what she did.

So here she is. She's in what seems like a wilderness, without hope, running away, and then she encounters the Angel of the Lord. What do you think He did? Well, because she's fleeing away, He intervenes. So in verse 9, it says, “The Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Return to your mistress. Submit yourself under her hand.’ Then, the Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘I will multiply your descendants.’" So we have another promise made, not the one made to Abraham, but a different one that He makes to Hagar.

So He gives her advice. It seems that He definitely has her best interest at heart and He says, "Behold, you're with a child." In verse 11, "You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction." So He pronounces a blessing on Hagar. It's kind of an interesting one, because her reaction to this blessing seems to add to the big story, to the big picture of who God is. What's her reaction when He gives her directions, gives her guidance, tells her what's going to happen?

Her reaction is this, verse 13, "Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'El Roi'." In other words, "You are the God who sees." There is a little bit of wordplay going on here, because this Lord who sees just got done telling her to name her child, "the Lord has heard." So you've got hearing and seeing coming together in the life of Hagar. Hagar, who ran, who fled away, now is given direction. She's given guidance by God, by the God who hears, and to her the Lord who sees.

I mean, it's kind of an interesting thing. You might check Scripture a little bit, because I think this is the only person in Scripture who actually names God, comes up with a name for God. "You are El Roi, the God who sees." So she gives God that name. In fact, down in verse 14, they name the well. The well is then named "Beer Lahai Roi". In translation, that means “the well of the Living One who sees me.” Now, it may not seem that that's much at all, but there are some amazing traits of God that are shown in this particular story.

I wonder if we really understand how God sees. Do we really grasp the intricacies and the way that God looks at life, that He looks at us? Because it's a challenge to have this God and recognizing that He does see. When is it challenging? Well, when we claim to have God on our side, we do what's right and others criticize us, do we wonder if we have a God that sees? When they talk about us behind our back, when they gossip about us, do we recognize we have a God who sees?

When we're going through difficulties and we're struggling with our circumstances, and the trials just seem never-ending, do we have a God who sees? Or when we struggle trying not to be a workaholic, spending all of our time on the job and the pressures are getting to us, do we recognize that we do have a God who sees? Or as a parent, we're trying to train our children, maybe we're trying to potty-train our child, that's a difficult job. It's so frustrating and you're going through the actions over and over, and over again. Does God even see that circumstance? I mean, we're running out of potty treats. Now what do we do?

Well, God does see and He sees when we're angry without a cause. God sees. When we deal harshly with others like Sarai did, we do have a God that sees that as well. When we feel like we need to run, when we need to hide, when we need to get away like a Hagar, and we're tempted to flee the circumstances around us, do we recognize that God sees? Or even when those closest to us hurt us, when our mate angers us or hurts us, do we recognize that we're still to love and to forgive because we have an all-seeing God?

Well, in Hagar's story I think we begin to see an aspect of God that is so vital. Scripture, over and over and over again, reveals this aspect of a seeing God, that we do have an El Roi, an all-powerful, all-seeing God. Now, you could probably sit down and come up with all kinds of examples of the way that God sees. One of the things that's interesting that jumps out in this story is that we see there's God even in the wilderness. Even when Hagar ran away, God was there, and it's certainly a reminder that God sees every place maybe first and foremost.

If we'd start to break down this all-seeing God, God sees every place. There's no place you can be that God isn't. The book of Job deals a little bit with this. If you look over to Job chapter 28, it reveals a little bit more about our all-seeing God in this particular aspect. Here, Job himself is doing the talking by the time we get to chapter 28 and, I think, in a way he's wondering about this all-seeing God. How could an all-seeing God allow Job to go through all of those difficulties and struggles that he was going through? How could he give him friends that didn't seem to care about him and just criticized him?

So Job, in a way, wonders out loud, Job 28:20, "From where then does wisdom come? Where is the place of understanding?” Verse 21, Job 28, "It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air." But does that mean that God doesn't see it if people don't see it? If we as individuals don't understand it, does it mean that God doesn't see? Verse 22, "Destruction and death say, 'We have heard a report about it with our ears.'" Wow. Even when we're facing destruction and death, even when the gossip is going out, “They're not going to make it. They won't survive.” Even though it looks terrible, God sees. God sees every place.

Look at verse 23. "God understands its way. He knows its place. For He looks to the end of the earth and sees under the whole heavens." So God sees every circumstance. He sees every family. He sees every workplace, every school. He sees every home. There isn't anything that God doesn't see. There is no place that you can run to hide from God. So God was there for Hagar. God does see, even in our lives, every place.

Yet, it doesn't stop there. A little farther on in Job, we see another facet of this El Roi, the seeing God that we have. Chapter 34, look at verse 21. In chapter 34, verse 21, we see Elihu expounds a little bit about God, as we see God not only sees every place, God sees every action. Every action, God is aware of. He knows it. Verse 21 of Job 34, "For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps." Well, does that mean just those of us who are trying to be Christians? Or does God see every action, every person, every individual?

Well, he says in verse 22, "There's no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." So whether we're striving to be Christians or whether we're lawless—we're sinners, we're not any part of God—he says, "Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run. God sees every single action." Verse 23, "For He need not further consider a man that he should go before God in judgement. He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry and sets others in their place. Therefore, He knows their works."

One of the things that's interesting about this section is it's not just that He knows it, but He understands it at every level of human consciousness. He understands everything. In verse 21, where it says, "His eyes are on the ways of man," some of the translations say, "He watches everything. He knows everything we do." So there's no getting around it. No getting around it. So you can't hide, because He sees every place. There's nowhere to go, because He knows every action.

In fact, more than that, He understands it. He understands it at maybe even a level we don't quite understand, even though we might be the ones doing it. He knowingly sees, or He sees and He understands. That maybe takes it to another level, shows us another facet of God's all-seeing capabilities. In Psalm 33, it illustrates this fact that God knowingly sees and He understands, a third aspect of God's all-seeing nature. That He does see every place, that He does see every action, and he knows it and He understands it thoroughly.

Look at Psalm 33. We'll pick it up in verse 13. In Psalm 33, verse 13, if we can just imagine this. It says, "The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of man. From the place of His dwelling, He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth." So that's kind of easy to envision. But imagine this, verse 15, it says, "He fashions their hearts individually and considers all their works." So it's not just that He's out there somewhere kind of watching and going, "Huh. Look at that. I didn't think they were going to do that. I wonder why they did that."

I mean, you might get that impression when you read it in the New King James, but in other translations it shows exactly how God understands and knowingly sees. It's implying that God understands why we do what we do. He understands why we live the way that we do, why we make the decisions we do, why we act the way we do. He knows it and He understands it. Some of the translations, when we see this aspect of verse 15, "He fashions the heart individually," in other words, He's the Creator. He's the one that formed every individual, every heart, and in relationship to that, He understands everything we do.

You might look it up in other translations, and quite a few of them bring that aspect out. It's not just that He thinks about it and considers it. But He gets it, He knows it, He understands every aspect about our thinking, and so He knows why we do what we do. So when we think about God seeing, that's part of what should come to mind as well, that He understands every aspect about us and why we do the things that we do.

Now that also means He's seeing things that aren't even seeable. He's seeing... Where are our thoughts? I can't see them. I know they're there somewhere. Maybe they're not very positive thoughts. Maybe they're not very reasonable thoughts. But God knows. God understands. So God also sees the unseen, or the unseeable. He sees what's hidden, doesn't He? I mean, we might try to hide it from others, and we can hide it from our friends. Maybe we can hide it from our mates. But we can't hide it from God. God's all-seeing nature unveils it all.

There's an interesting positive aspect of this. Over in the book of Matthew, if you turn to Matthew chapter 6, verse 4, Christ is expounding a little bit about prayer, a little bit about our actions and our relationship with God. In Matthew chapter 6, He comes upon an aspect of our all-seeing God. Notice what it says here in Matthew chapter 6. Just as He's getting ready to give this model prayer, He's talking about the things that we do and the reasons why we do them.

So in verse 3, He says, "When you do a charitable deed, when you do something good, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." So we should do good things, and we don't have to brag about it. We're not doing it because we want the pat on the back. We're not doing it because we need the "atta boy." We do it because it's the right thing to do, and others might not even know about it. So He says we're doing those things in secret.

Verse 4, he says, "Your charitable deeds may be done in secret." So they're hidden. They're hidden from most people. But what about God? So then He says, "Your Father, who sees in secret, will Himself reward you openly." So God knows what we do, why we do it. Even the things we keep secret, even the good things that we do, God notices those and He says He rewards us. He rewards us for those good things. So that's a very powerful, positive aspect of our all-seeing God. He blesses us even in those things that some don't see, which is very, very good.

Now, on the other hand, when we turn over to Hebrews chapter 4, we see another aspect of our all-knowing God, who sees the unseen. Hebrews chapter 4 expounds on this just a little bit. We'll pick it up in verse 13. Hebrews 4:13, it says, "There's no creature hidden from His sight." "Nothing in creation" is also the implication not just animals, it's not talking about creatures in that sense. "There's nothing in creation hidden from His sight. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him, to whom we must give account."

We're accountable to God. We're accountable to God. Our all-seeing God holds us accountable, which leads us, I think, to a different aspect as we realize we do have an El Roi, an all-seeing God. Nothing in any way is hidden from Him, and yet we as His people stand accountable before Him. Well, in fact, all people stand accountable before Him. Now, we can see a little bit more of this aspect of God in our second H. Remember, we're talking about two stories that had people with H's in them.

The second is Hananiah the Prophet. Now, you can find his story in 2 Chronicles 16. You want to start turning over to 2 Chronicles chapter 16, we can think about a little of the backstory to Hananiah. King Asa is in Judah. They're in trouble. Israel wants to attack them. So there's these two kings that are rather questionable. They're going to go to battle against each other. Baasha in Israel, Asa in Judah. What's Asa going to do? He's going to be overrun by Israel. They're bigger. They're stronger. They're going to take us over.

Well, what should he do? He has an all-seeing God. Well, he turns to Ben-Hadad of Syria. He makes an alliance with him. You think that's a good move or a bad move? He doesn't rely on God. He doesn't look to God for help. He looks to Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, for help. He gives him... Well, he just doesn't say, "Please come and help me. Oh, by the way, here's some gold. Here's some silver. Here's a whole bunch of gold and silver. It's out of the treasuries of the temple and my treasury." But what do you think Ben-Hadad would say? "It sounds like a deal to me."

So they form an alliance. Guess what happens? They prevail. They defeat Israel. Judah is safe. End of story, right? Wrong. Not the end of the story. In fact, if we look down just a little bit, this is where Hananiah comes on the scene. He comes to see the king. Now, when a prophet of God shows up unannounced, not always the best sign in the world. Maybe you don't answer the door if that's the case, right?

Well, Hananiah is an interesting character, because we know so much about him. Everybody is familiar with Hananiah. There's so much written about him. There's so many of his experiences that are written about. It just seems the pages of the Bible are flooded with examples of the pro-... Who is this guy anyway? I mean, this is about it. This is about the only place in the Bible you'll find this Hananiah the prophet. There's other Hananiahs, but this is the only place.

So we only know this little bit about him. Even though there's just a teeny little bit that's written about him and his experience, he's nonetheless a remarkable man, the remarkable man of God. Because he says one of the most amazing things that are recorded in all of the Bible. We'll get to that in just a moment. So imagine, he shows up at the door of King Asa. Asa didn't do the best thing, had an alliance with the Syrians. Now, Hananiah shows up. What does he say?

Well, look down to verse 8. 2 Chronicles 16:8, Hananiah says to the king, speaking on God's behalf of course, he says, "Were the Ethiopians and the Lubims not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand." He says, "Remember this battle in the past? You relied on God. You sought His instruction. You asked God, who sees all things, for help and guidance and direction."

But what about this time? Well, this time he didn't. He didn't ask for God's guidance and deliverance. Verse 9, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and for throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this, you've done foolishly. Therefore, from now on, you shall have wars." So Hananiah shows up, brings bad news for Asa. In fact, just the chapter before, there was supposed to be peace. It wasn't supposed to be war anymore.

Yet now, because of Asa's actions, because of his inability to understand an all-seeing God, he relied on something he could see. He could see the Syrian army, he could see their power, and so he trusted in their power instead of trusting in the unseen God who sees everything. So the result was this curse. Wars are going to trouble Asa for the rest of his life, because he wouldn't rely on God. So imagine if you were Hananiah. I mean, we don't want to focus on Asa here. There's lots of lessons to learn.

Asa, well, he could've repented. He could've said, "Wow. I'm wrong. I shouldn't have done that." He didn't do that. We'll see what he does in just a moment. But if we focus on Hananiah the prophet and the prophecy, I think we see something that's critical, because Hananiah does what God told him to do. He was sent to give a message. He was to go to a powerful king, and imagine this, going to a powerful king with bad news. How many of us would be ready to step out and go to it with the king? Generally, not the recipe for a long-lasting life when you have to go to the king with bad news.

Yeah, there was a good chance he was going to get it. He was going to get, not just fired from his job—he was going to get the axe, you might say. But after all, Hananiah had God on his side. So what does he have to fear? I mean, after all, the Lord is pictured here with eyes looking to and fro. He's going to bless Hananiah, right? I mean, how could He not? He's going to bless us, because we strive after His way.

So we're not going to have to worry about paying bills. Are we? We're not going to have to worry about our children being disobedient. Certainly, we don't have to worry about really enjoying our jobs and having everything just perfect at the workplace, and our cars never break down. Of course, we never are ill. We never get sick, because we have a God that looks to and fro and is going to... Wait a second. That's not the way it is.

In fact, if we look back to verse 10, what happened to Hananiah? "Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison. For he was enraged at him because of this, and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time." So the result of Hananiah obeying God, being true and loyal to God: prison. Now, guess how many times we get to hear about Hananiah after this? This is the last we hear from him. Maybe he was in prison for the rest of his life. We just don't know. He's gone from the scene. Maybe he's in jail for the rest of his life.

Well, did God somehow renig on his promise? I mean, He's supposed to be all-seeing. Shouldn't He have protected him? Shouldn't He have kept this trial from him? Well, maybe we should read what Hananiah was told to say to Asa. Once again, look at verse 9. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him."

If you looked up that Hebrew word for showing himself strong, it really means to encourage or strengthen, to strengthen on his behalf. So God looks back and forth to strengthen those. In fact, you read this in other translations, verse 9, in the common English version, the Lord is constantly watching everyone, and he gives strength to those who faithfully obey him. "Good news says the Lord keeps close watch over the whole world to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him."

So even though Hananiah got thrown into prison, it seems like the end of the story, nothing more said about it, was he strengthened? Did God take care of him? Well, he brought a good message from God. He was following God, it would certainly seem wholeheartedly, and he gets thrown into prison. You think he was strengthened by the Lord in prison? Any other examples throughout the Bible of people who were thrown in prison that God strengthened and encouraged in spite of their circumstances? I think we can think of quite a few of them, can't we?

Oftentimes, we don't think of them in relationship to our own difficulties and our own struggles and trials. But certainly Joseph was like that, the apostle Paul. Were they strengthened and encouraged? Absolutely. Absolutely. In fact, one of the amazing things about Hananiah is it seems that his son followed in his footsteps and became a prophet of God as well. Imagine that, having your son watch you get thrown in prison, maybe never heard from again, and then he follows in his footsteps.

You think he would've recognized God was going to watch over him, that God would strengthen and encourage him? You see? I think it makes a wonderful point. The fact is God does not lead us out of trouble every single time. He's never promised to lead us out of trouble. But He does promise to lead us through trouble. Those who are completely His, those who are loyal, we're not guaranteed a safe ride in this life. It's just not like that. But instead, He does promise to give encouragement. He does promise to give guidance. He does promise support and encouragement through the difficulties.

Because there's those of you who have done what Hananiah did. Well, not stand before a king and give him the news like that. But you've followed God, and you've stayed maybe in a difficult job, because there was nothing better out there and you worked your way through it. Or maybe you kept your integrity when the other people would've lied. You took the time to be with your family when there wasn't time.

You sacrificed of your life. Maybe you stepped out in faith. You went to college. You didn't have any money. "I took out loans." You stepped out in faith, knowing God would pay your bills? Or God would strengthen you and encourage you? Because in all those circumstances, sometimes we find ourselves in prison. "I stuck it out on my job, and now my job is worse than ever." "I stuck it out in college, I took out all these loans, and I can't even get the job that I was trained for."

But where's God in all those things? "I stuck it out in a difficult relationship, and now it's worse than ever." Has God promised to help us in those things? I think He has. I think our all-seeing God knows. He understands. He sees what's happening and like He helped Hagar, He's going to give us direction and guidance and encouragement. He's looking to and fro to strengthen and encourage those who are devoted to God.

Yeah, He's not devoted to work it out in our lives the way we want it to work out. But He does promise to strengthen and encourage us through the pain and through the suffering. It kind of ties in with what Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Look over at 1 Corinthians 10:13. "As His eyes move to and fro about the earth," why is He doing that? Why did Hananiah make that remarkable statement to the king?

I think it ties in with what Paul instructed in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, verse 13. There are difficulties. There are trials. There are temptations. There are challenges that we are going to face in this life. The apostle Paul wrote about that in 1 Corinthians 10. In verse 13, he says, "No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man." Well, there were difficulties and trials that Hananiah had to face. There are temptations and difficulties and trials that we have to go through.

But we have a God that sees everything. Our El Roi is said to be faithful. It says, "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Well, Hananiah certainly had no way of escape. He was thrown in prison. They locked the door, threw away the key maybe. What kind of way of escape was that?

Well, sometimes God does miraculously open the prison doors. It happened to Paul, didn't it? Yeah, sometimes those trials and those difficulties, they vanish. God can do miraculous things like that. Can't He? But this passage also points to Hananiah in prison, doesn't it? It says, "Well, He can make a way of escape. But He says also that you may be able to bear it." That's the strengthening Lord, the one who strengthens us and encourages us. In spite of the challenges and the difficulties that we face, we have a God that sees and strengthens and encourages us.

Why do His eyes go to and fro? Well, it says to guide us, to direct us, like He directed Hagar. "Here's what you need to do." It was to lead her and support her, and help her through a really terrible trial, as her mistress was so mean and harsh with her. God wants to do that with us as well, to guide and lead and direct us as well. Now, it's also interesting, there's something else back in 2 Chronicles that ties into this as well.

If you want to flip your way back to 2 Chronicles 16:9, let's notice that eyeing things, that seeing things over the whole earth, looking to and fro. Let's notice something else, I think, that is critical about the way that God sees, the way that God recognizes and understands and has insight. 2 Chronicles 16:9, God makes it very clear as Hananiah the prophet speaks to Asa. Verse 9, he says, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."

Now, that might read a little bit different than your King James. That's the New American Standard Version. "His eyes move to and fro that He may strongly support or strengthen those whose heart is completely His." The New Living Translation says it a little bit differently. Verse 9, "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." "To strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."

So is God looking over this whole earth, He's looking to and fro, to find people that are loyal? Is He looking for people that are wholehearted? Is He trying to figure out, "Well, whose heart is really on My side?" Is He seeking, trying to figure that out? He's not doing that, is He? He's not. He already knows, doesn't He? Isn't that what this is implying? God's eyes are not searching for the loyal and wholehearted, because He already knows who they are. Our all-seeing God knows everything, and so it's not looking to see the loyal, not looking to see the wholehearted.

Take a look at verse 9 again. He's looking to stand strong for those who are wholehearted. He's looking to encourage and strengthen, and guide those who are loyal, fully committed to Him. So His eyes are moving around looking for ways to strengthen us, looking for avenues to guide us, looking for how He can encourage us. So this is an amazing promise. It's because we're loyal to God, because we're wholehearted disciples of Christ, He will move, He will act on our behalf. He knows our loyalty. He's searching how to give us strength, because we're loyal to Him.

When we surrender every single aspect of our life to Him, when we sacrifice our family, our jobs, whatever it takes to do His will within our families as well, of course, when we do those things, He's looking for ways to strengthen and encourage us. Of course, it's a reminder of how He looks at things.

You might just write down 1 Samuel 16:7. You know the passage, when God sent Samuel to find the next king. Remember, it used to be King Saul, this giant of a man, the best-looking one in all Israel? What does God tell Samuel? Well, in 1 Samuel 16:7, He tells him, “God doesn't see as a man sees. God looks at the heart. He doesn't look at the appearance of things.” So God is looking at our heart. He's looking at our heart. How does our heart stand before God? Now, if we look back to our first H for just a moment, let's go back to Hagar and see if we can tie this together with this whole aspect of our El Roi.

Genesis chapter 16, verse 13, we skipped over a little part here when we were here the first time. In Genesis chapter 16, verse 13, here's where she names God. She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "El Roi. You are the God who sees." Of course, the response from God was like what God wants to do for us. He encourages her. He directs her. He gives her advice. He tells her what to do. He shows her the way to go. He wants to do that in our life as well.

Now, the interesting aspect of this is Hagar's response. She calls the name of the Lord who spoke to her, El Roi, and then she says something amazing. "For she said, 'Have I also here seen Him who sees me?'" Now, why would she say that? "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" Now, some scholars will say she's saying something like, "Wow. I saw God and I'm alive to tell about it." Yeah, that's pretty amazing, probably part of the implication here. Yet, many of the translations show a little bit different aspect to this question that Hagar poses.

Many of the translations have the idea of, "Have I really seen the God who sees me?" "Have I truly seen the One who sees me?" See, recognizing the fact that God sees it all, He knows everything, she questions herself. "Have I seen the One who's seen me?" She takes an inward look at herself, in a way wondering about her standing with God. Maybe, in a way tying into what Hananiah said to Asa.

He was going to strengthen and support those who were wholehearted, who were loyal to Him, and Hagar thinks this out loud. "Am I wholehearted? Am I really fully dedicated to God?" I think in a way, that's what God wants us to do. "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" Because this is the time we need to ask ourselves this question. Can we say our heart is completely, fully, totally committed to God?

Of course, we can say, "Yes." If that's our goal in life to honor Him, to put Him first in our lives, to glorify Him, to do His will in every situation, we can say, "Yes. We have a loyal, committed heart and we are wholehearted." Of course, we struggle with that at times, don't we? Yet, God doesn't turn His back on us. But we've got to make sure that it just can't be the outward appearance of things. We can't be like a King Saul. We've got to look at our own heart. We can have the truth. But if we don't live the truth, what good is having it? That's not wholehearted. It's a matter of what our priorities are.

 

I was reading a little bit about this in a book that was written by Chuck Swindoll. He wrote a book called, "David: A Man of Passion and Destiny". On page 6 of that book, he wrote something I think that applies both to Hagar, Hananiah, and to us. Here's what he wrote. "God is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His, completely. Nothing hidden, nothing swept under the rug. That means, no locked closets. That means, when you're wrong you admit it, and you immediately come to terms with it. You're grieved over it."

You're hurting over wrong. You recognize the fact that these things displease God and you're concerned about those things that displease Him, and you long to please Him in all of your actions. More than that, you care about the motivations behind your actions. That's being wholehearted. That's asking yourself, "Have I also seen Him who sees me?" When I ask myself, "What motivates me?" am I really zealous and wholehearted for God and His way in my life? Do I really desire Him above all things? Do I really understand what He sees when He looks at my heart?"

Well, if sometimes we ask that question and we don't see a wholehearted attitude, there's something we can do. We're not lost. We can ask for it. We can ask God to watch over us. We can ask God for that kind of heart. Psalm 51 is one of those songs that we sing so many times. It's a beautiful psalm of repentance. In Psalm 51:10, there is solution for hearts that aren't whole. There's a solution for you and I as we walk this path of life, and in Psalm 51 we see the solution. We see what we need to seek and what we need to ask for.

In verse 10 of Psalm 51... In fact, you could read the whole psalm for encouragement and guidance and direction. But in verse 10, we can pray, "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Don't cast me away from Your presence. Don't take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore me the joy of Your salvation. Uphold me by Your generous Spirit." With that kind of request, when we petition God like that, what do you think God's response is? He forgives us. He cleans us up. He washes us whiter than snow. He washes us clean. He sees us as wholehearted.

In fact, a couple of pages before this, look at Psalm 32, verse 8. Psalm 32, verse 8, shows us that just like Hagar, just like Hananiah, God is not going to walk away from us. God promises to strengthen us, to encourage us, to watch over us. Psalm 32:8, God promises, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye." So we can say God has got His eye on us.

God has got His eye on us. Why does He have His eye... Not to zap us with a bolt of lightning. He's got His eye on us for our good. He's got His eye on us to strengthen and encourage and help us. God is looking for miraculous ways to help us, and He can do that very thing. So we've got to give it up—give up that wayward heart, give up our own ways, and give our all to God so He can fulfill His purpose in our lives. Just imagine God's eyes going to and fro over the whole earth. He's looking over the entire globe in ways to bless you. He's looking for ways, and the earth has no limitation for God to find ways to encourage and strengthen us. He will open doors, and maybe those doors will open halfway around the world, and somehow benefit us and serve us, because He promises to meet every need. He says as we are committed fully to Him, He's going to open doors. He's going to find ways. He will guide us. He will direct us. Even though we may find ourselves in prison, we have a constant hope that He’ll never leave us and never fail us in any way. He will show Himself strong for us.

So let's be fully dedicated. Let's be fully committed to have a heart—not just any old heart, but have a heart that is completely His.